In a New York minute
by runs with sissors
Summary: New York city is no place to have a mental breakdown! But who's this new girl hanging around? Where's Rose? Final chapter up.
1. Breakfast at

**A/N**: I'm sorry, guys- while the summary is supposed to get you a bit on-edge, there is an original character here, but you are meant to LIKE her. I know it might be a lot to ask, but I tried to make her as human as possible. And this is, by no means, a self-insertation fic. Ew, no, don't worry.

**Disclaimer:** Doctor Who doesn't belong to me. However, the OC and her two bitchy little friends do. Please read on...

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The Doctor stood and just looked, wishing his eyes were not watering. He looked some more, crossing and uncrossing his arms, kneading his lips.

He glanced over at another case with silver jewellery, then back to the case in front of him. For the first time in his life, he felt completely out of place- utterly and without a doubt. He could be on planet-hop and bend the rules of time and space, converse with aliens and save galaxies, ten at a time, but he felt completely alone and helpless standing in front of the sterling-silver necklaces.

He was in New York City. He was in Tiffany's. And he was having a horrible time.

The Doctor rubbed his eyes and looked at the bracelet again, then at the price. He could probably go to a craft store, spend a tenth of the price of the bracelet and make the thing from scratch, but he couldn't do that to Rose. It was her birthday, and he was going to buy something from Tiffany's if it killed him.

Which was exactly what it was doing.

_I'm going to waste a life on this, aren't I?_ he thought desperately. _Hang around a bit longer, and eventually you'll be so over your head at least one of the hearts will stop. What'll you do then?_

He shook his head and moved to the next case over, not even looking up to make eye contact with the sales clerk, who was glaring at him. There was a sign on the case that said "Gifts for Her", which the Doctor appreciated. Not that he saw that many men walking around with diamond necklaces and rings on in the first place…well, not on Earth, anyway.

He saw the clerk move closer to him out of the corner of his eye. "Can I help you?"

"No," he answered quickly, shaking his head. "You really can't."

"Is there something specific you'd like to see?"

"No," he answered sadly, really regretting the fact that he was so obviously a novice to jewellery-buying. "There's really not."

"Do you have a price range?"

The Doctor grimaced. "No, I really don't. I mean…I don't know."

"Well, just tell me if you'd like some help," the clerk responded, looking slightly sour.

He gave a tight-lipped smile and watched the clerk move over to the corner, then desperately tried focusing on the jewellery. _What would Rose like? What would Rose wear?_

He ruled out dangly necklaces because Rose would never wear it daily; he had warned her of the dangers of wearing things on her neck. On the other hand, the chokers looked too elegant to wear at all.

_What am I doing? I mean, what the _hell_ am I doing? _

He looked at another silver bracelet, but saw that the clasp was quite big- enough for someone to pull on, if they wanted to, and displace Rose's wrist.

_Jewellery is dangerous._

The Doctor also knew better than to get her anything with diamonds on it- diamonds caught the light, and there were plenty of species that could see a diamond sparkle from a mile away. And, as he and Rose both knew full well, that was generally a bad thing. So whatever he got her, it would definitely be silver.

_I'm not cut out for this. I want to go home._

He sighed again, ran a hand over his head, and moved to the next case over. As he shifted he heard the door open and a giggle- two girls, aged around twelve or thirteen, entered the store with a third girl, taller and older-looking, trailing along behind them. The two girls looked up in awe, admiring the pieces of jewellery that was displayed in cases on the wall. One of them let out a tiny squeal and ran over to one of the cases on the floor. The other followed. The third girl exhaled with a note of finality, took off her hat and scratched her head.

The Doctor looked at her. She looked back. She smiled a tight smile, a weary smile, and shoved her hat in her bag. The Doctor went back to looking for jewellery. The two younger girls had already surpassed the first few cases and were now oooh-ing over the engagement rings.

_Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose…Rose, _he thought._ What to get Rose. Not a watch. No, those watches are huge. And ugly. _

"Look at those watches!" the blonde one of the girls cried. The Doctor noticed that the blonde wore a sterling-silver bracelet identical to a bracelet he had first looked at- it was priced at one hundred and eighty-five dollars.

_How about a bracelet? Yeah, a bracelet. Under…200 dollars, let's say?_

It was hard to focus with the girls whispering to each other.

_With a small clasp. Yep, not seeing any with small clasps…_

Ten minutes passed by as the Doctor searched for a piece of jewellery that was fit for a time-traveller, but to no avail. Everything was either too shiny, too dangly, the clasp was too big or the Doctor didn't like it. He sniffed and craned his neck all the way back, emitting a noise of desperation and woe.

A silence as the Doctor put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes. Then…

"Are…are you all right?"

The Doctor looked towards the speaker; it was the third girl. She stood a few feet to his right, her brow furrowed a bit.

"I'm fine, thanks," he replied quickly. "Did I sound not all right? Because I am _all_ right."

"No. I mean, you sounded sick. Or like you were crying."

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows to match the girls'. "Can you…d'you think you can help me?"

The girl looked uncertain. "I'm sort of… baby-sitting," she told him, and motioned to the two younger girls. "We're here with a group and they couldn't go anywhere without a chaperone."

"No, I mean, can you help me choose something?"

"Oh! Oh, sure," the girl said, obviously relieved. "But just so you know, I'm not very good, I mean, I don't even wear jewellery."

The Doctor could have hugged her. "No, that's fine, really. That's fine."

"Can I ask you a question first?"

The Doctor smiled. "Choose something, then I'll answer anything you want to know."

The girl frowned at the Doctor, looking him right in the eyes. He was far from threatening… he seemed more desperate for help than anything.

"Look, I'm probably already in trouble for talking to a stranger or something, so you'd better not pull anything funny," she said, and looked over her shoulder at the girls she had entered with.

"You don't think they'll tell, do you?" she asked.

"Not if they get distracted easily," the Doctor replied honestly. "Which, it appears, they do."

The girl stifled a, then stuck out her hand tentatively. "I'm Emily," she said. "Please don't abduct me."

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor told her. "And I need help."

"Admitting you've got a problem is the first step to recovery," Emily said. He smiled, and Emily jumped right in.

"Okay, now, who are we looking for…?"


	2. Let me introduce

"Okay, now, who are we looking for?" Emily asked, turning her body so that she stood on the same plane as the Doctor, facing one of the many glass cases.

"A friend. Rose."

"On a scale of one to ten, just how much of a friend is she?" Emily implored.

"I don't…uh…"

"One being you met her on the subway this morning and ten being you want to marry her."

The Doctor swallowed. Emily smacked her lips.

"Okay, I see that it's a touchy subject-"

The Doctor turned slightly. "No, it's just…it's very complicated, and if either of us had more time I might be able to explain better. Were you wondering about price range?"

"Yes, exactly."

"The plan was to stay under two hundred," the Doctor said.

"Okay. Two hundred. Good. Now, uh…remember, I don't really know what I'm doing…"

"That makes two of us."

"Do you know if Rose likes any specific type of jewellery?"

"I don't think so. I don't think so, anyway, I've never really paid close attention, although maybe I should have. However…" and he listed all of the qualifications the piece could have: a small clasp, not too dangly, not too sparkly and no diamonds. If it was coloured, not too many colours, especially pinks and greens because that tended to upset planets in the XZ and LW galaxies quite a bit. Not too posh. Something she could wear on a regular day…something that wouldn't catch on and pull something, like a lever or a hatch, bringing the universe as they knew it to a screeching halt…

And as he said this, he realised all hope was lost.

"What?" Emily asked, alarmed. "No, no, don't give up. We had a good thing going just now! We were getting specific!"

"Didn't you just hear me?" the Doctor asked desperately. "That long list of 'things this piece of jewellery can never be?'" He turned around sharply, angry with himself. "No, no, this will never work, I've come to the wrong place. We never go anywhere nice anyway, and I won't have her risking her life by wearing jewellery on a daily basis. This was a stupid idea."

Emily's brow furrowed for the second time in five minutes. "What? No, you're not making sense. Do you two travel?"

The Doctor nodded copiously.

"Okay, well, then…get her a ring. But I guess it'll just be a band, since it can't have a diamond on it…no, that won't work. And all the bracelets are too dangly, I think, or too sparkly… What were you talking about, 'risking her life?' What does this Rose do?"

"A lot, a lot of stuff, and I care about her too much to have her wear jewellery!"

There was a silence in the store as the pair realised they had been too loud. Emily laced her fingers and put them under her chin, waiting for everyone around them to stop staring.

"A lot of men wouldn't say that," she told the Doctor. "Rose must be something special."

It was meant to get a laugh, or at least some kind of reaction, but didn't live up to its expectations. The Doctor was clearly too upset.

"Here," Emily said gently. "Let's go outside." Without even a second glance back at the girls, the two left Tiffany's and went back out into the bitter New York cold.

The Doctor was still huffing by the time they reached the sidewalk. He and Emily stood close to the outside of the building, lest they would get yelled at for loitering by a pedestrian.

"Look, I've never…done this before. I never had to. And I mean that, never. I make it a point not to. I complain whenever I'm forced to. And once, just once, I try. I try to get jewellery, and where do I end up? I want to do something decent, once, something… something Rose would think normal, and this is what happens. I failed."

Emily squeezed her lips together, not fully comprehending. Finally, she spoke.

"Well…well, I call this progress," she said, matter-of-factly.

The Doctor looked at her for a moment. "Sorry, progress?"

"Yeah, 'cause…is it Rose's birthday?"

"Yeah…"

"And of all the gifts in the world, you've ruled out jewellery, right? So now you know, and you'll never have to go into another Tiffany's as long as you live."

The Doctor exhaled deeply. "Okay, I think I see."

"What about clothes?"

"I couldn't. I don't know her size, I couldn't guess. I'm so _bad_ at this."

"There's this really cheap clothes store down a few blocks, H&M…."

"No, that's bad, that's where I left her off in the first place. She thinks I'm running an errand. Ha. Well."

"Flowers?" Emily suggested quickly. "There are lots of florists."

"No, that'd be too…just, no. I don't date her."

Emily frowned again. The two stood shivering, in silence, the Doctor looking passively at some distant spot, already given up. Two minutes passed and he opened his mouth to say that he was sorry to waste Emily's time but it wasn't going to work out, when something came out of his mouth he didn't expect.

"What about…tickets?"

"Hm?"

"You know, tickets. Like to a show or something."

Emily paused; the Doctor scowled. "No, you're right, that's a bad idea, I don't even know what she'd want to see…"

"No!" Emily cried. "No, that's good!"

"It is?"

"Yes, of course!" She smacked herself on the head. "Why didn't I think of that? Really, I mean, it's obvious. Good thinking."

The Doctor shrugged and smiled.

"And what about dinner beforehand?" Emily asked. "I know a few places, I'll write them down for you, if you'd like. And ice cream! Mr. Softee, now that's ice cream...provided that the truck in Rockefeller Center is still there after dark. But if you want tickets, we've got to make it to the TKS booth before it closes."

She pulled her hat on and started off down the street, motioning for the Doctor to follow her. Just as the Doctor started to trot after her, she paused and turned around.

"And you thought you couldn't do it by yourself," she said airily.

Emily talked some more about cafés and restaurants and the like, not even bothering to go back in the store and tell the girls that she had abandoned them. The Doctor walked alongside her with a bemused grin on his face. Tickets instead of jewellery? He hoped Rose wouldn't mind…

An hour and a half later the Doctor stood on an island in the middle of Times Square, two show tickets and a list of restaurant addresses (ranked on a scale of classiness from one to ten) stuffed in his pocket. Emily was in the process of writing directions to a Mr. Softee ice cream truck on the back of a receipt. She and the Doctor had trekked all the way to the TKS booth, waited in line, gotten their commodities and not spoken another word until they had gone back to another island and stopped to catch their breath.

Emily finally finished and shoved the receipt into the Doctor's hands. "There," she said.

The Doctor took the receipt and put it into his pocket. He could do nothing but smile, which hurt in itself; both of their faces were wind blown and chapped. Emily pulled her hat back on and smiled back.

"How can I thank you?" he asked her, baffled.

Emily shook her head. "It was nothing. And it got me away from Jessica and Heather for a while, so that was good."

"Who?"

"The two girls I came in with…shit!" Emily's eyes got as big as saucers and she began rummaging around in her bag, finally pulling out her cell phone. "Shit, shit, shit! I've been gone for an hour now, they'll wonder where I've gone off to…"

The Doctor bit his lip as she called.

"Hi!" Emily exclaimed. "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry…I…I stepped outside for a moment and you know…" She fought for an excuse. "Orlando Bloom walked right by and I was like 'holy crap!' So, so, I followed him for like five blocks and got his autograph. Sorry I didn't call."

The Doctor bit his lip harder, chuckling.

"Yeah, 'course I got you an autograph! Both of you. Hey, I'll be back in fifteen minutes, okay? …Right, bye."

Emily snapped her cell phone shut. "Oh Christ, they're excited now." She looked at him in an apologetic way. "Orlando, would you mind signing something for me?"

The Doctor smiled. "It's the least I can do."

Emily got back into her bag, replaced her cell phone, and pulled out a small notebook. As he signed two autographs, she got a peculiar look on her face.

"You said I could ask a question."

"Yup."

A pause. "Where are you from? 'Cause I mean…you're obviously not from around here, no offence intended."

"None taken," the Doctor said, and stopped writing. He narrowed his eyes, contemplating. She had given him a chance, so why shouldn't he? And it's not like they'd ever meet again; probably not in his lifetime and especially not in hers…

"What if I said," the Doctor chose his words carefully, "that I was from the past?"

"I'd say that's the lamest reply I've ever gotten to that question," Emily told him.

He laughed resumed writing. "What if I said… that I was from the future?"

The Doctor didn't have to look up to tell that Emily was taken by surprise. He gave her a moment to think, then met her gaze.

"Wait, what?" she asked, suddenly a little pale.

"What if I said that I was from a different planet," he said, handing her the notebook and pen as if nothing was the matter, "and I was just passing through with my companion, and at the end of the day I'll get in my ship and go somewhere else?"

Emily was totally silent for a moment, standing completely still. The traffic moved around him, behind him and behind her, taxis beeping their horns and storefront lights continued to flash. The ground rumbled as the subway passed beneath their feet, and yet the Doctor did not change his expression. He looked at her the same way he had earlier, when he was asking for her help: he looked at her honestly. His face said, _if you believe me, great…if you don't, alright_. Emily's eyes searched his face for some time.

She finally blinked and shifted her weight to her left foot before speaking. "I'd believe you," she said.

The Doctor blinked himself. "Really?"

She nodded. "I can tell you're not lying, which means either you really do travel around with Rose and like, do whatever you do, save the world or whatever…or you at least think you do. Which means you're crazy, which is fine by me because I get along great with crazy people."

The Doctor smiled. "I knew I liked you! Tell me, how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Where are you from?"

"Michigan."

"Emily from Michigan," he repeated. Emily grinned, but it faded quickly.

"I wish I didn't, but I have to go," she said. She extended her hand and the Doctor shook it.

"Goodbye, Doctor," she said, then raised her eyebrows, "if that is your real name."

The Doctor smiled again. "It is."

"Yeah, I know."

She nodded, looked at the ground momentarily and finally made her way across the street, dodging around the traffic.

"Thanks again!" he yelled after her. Emily waited until she was on the other side of the street. She bounced on the balls of her feet, pulling at the hem of her jumper before answering, trying to think of something good to say.

"Right back at you!" she called back finally.

Emily smiled again and ran off down the block, knowing she had a lot of ground to cover before she reached Tiffany's. The Doctor grinned, and looked around at Times Square a moment before setting off. Seven blocks to go until he would reach H&M, and he couldn't wait to get there.

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**A/N:** If you were worried or mad, don't be...Rose is in the next, and final, two chapters. 'Cause she's my favorite. Wait, no, favourite. 


	3. H&M stands for

On his way across town, the Doctor had reasoned with himself that actually entering H&M would be a bad idea. He was not used to feeling out of place, and Tiffany's was enough for one day. Once he had actually reached the place he lingered outside the door, looking at his shoes, feeling ridiculous. At last he finally gave in, gritted his teeth and told himself that if he didn't see Rose within the first two minutes of searching, he'd leave and maybe go down the street to Rockefeller Center for a while.

The Doctor opened one of the doors and felt immediately foreign. Music pumped from speakers hidden in the walls as people swarmed around him, chatting away. His eyes scanned the store for a head of blonde hair and finally found it, waiting in the queue to check out. He breathed a sigh of relief and sauntered up to her as if nothing were the matter.

"Good shopping?" he asked her, and saw two heads turn sharply in his direction.

"Very," Rose said cheerily. She plastered a smile on her face and leaned into him slightly. "Don't ever let me wear this jacket on Earth again."

"Why? I think it looks very nice, mys-"

Rose kept smiling and pretended to inspect a cardigan hanging on a rack. "I've had five girls come up to me and ask me where I got it. Five! It's mad!"

"You didn't-"

She gave him a sideways glance.

"No, of course you didn't."

"I told them I got it in Cardiff. Two of them smiled and nodded and the other three asked 'where?' They had no idea what Cardiff was, of course, not to mention where. I suppose they were expecting Macy's or Bloomingdale's."

"But," the Doctor said, "if you had told them you got it on Poloxamer in Star System seven,you would've gotten the same reaction."

Rose nodded in agreement. "Anyway," she sighed, "this really is the best birthday I've ever had. Shopping with unlimited credit! It's brilliant! What with all the clothes that get ruined, running around with you."

The Doctor grinned, very proud of this.

"Next," the cashier said. As Rose lay her items on the counter the Doctor became aware that the two girls standing behind them- a curly haired blonde and a short brunette, he later found- were whispering fervently, as well as a group of girls looking at shoes a few metres away. He tried to ignore them but he easily heard "Cute accents" muttered from one, and the reply, "Where do you think they're from?" to which the first, obviously the intelligent one of the pair, stated, "England, duh!" After a pause, the second one said, "England's next to France, right?"

The cashier skillfully managed to pack all of Rose's purchases into two bags, which was a miracle in itself. They emerged from the store presently and walked to the corner where the Doctor put a hand on Rose's shoulder, stopping her. Rose swung around and nearly hit a passerby with one of her bags.

Wordless for effect, the Doctor pulled the two tickets out of his pocket and handed them to Rose, who took them. She became momentarily stunned before looking up at him, her jaw on the ground.

"For…for…?" she stuttered. Finally she simply threw down her bags and leapt onto the Doctor, hugging him tightly.

"Ah, Rose, you're crushing my larynx," he told her.

"I don't care!" she cried. "Thank you, thank you! I mean, thank you! You shouldn't have."

The Doctor hugged back; hugging Rose was one of his favourite things to do. "I'm just glad you like them. Relieved, actually. Very, very relieved."

"How did you know?" she asked, and hugged for a moment more before backing down to look at her tickets.

"I, uh…well, it's your birthday and all, and I thought…well I was _going_ to get you jewellery. I tried, I went all the way down to Tiffany's-"

Rose snorted.

"Yeah, it was a bad idea, but I didn't know it at the time. And while I was in Tiffany's there was this girl there and she took me down to the TKS booth and got me tickets- at my suggestion, though, so don't think she bought them. I even chose the show! Oh, she also gave me the address to a restaurant, so I thought maybe…" the Doctor saw the smile flicker on Rose's face.

"A girl?" she asked, quite innocently. "Who?"

"Oh, well, you know, tall, dark hair. Name was Emily. American. Really friendly, quick thinker."

She pursed her lips; the Doctor smiled. "She was sixteen, Rose. Sixteen."

"I was ninet-!"

"Let me finish! She was here with a group from out of town, and while she was chaperoning two girls from the group, they happened into Tiffany's."

After a moment, a smile tugged at Rose's lips finally. "Really? You didn't…"

"No!" the Doctor cried. "I never even made the offer. All we talked about was you, Miss Tyler, and your birthday," he said.

"Aw," Rose cooed. "That's sweet. Thank you."

"It's the truth," the Doctor said happily. "Now, the show starts at seven and it's nearly five now, so how about we go back to the TARDIS, put your clothes away in that pit you call your room and then we go to eat?"

Rose laughed at the crack the Doctor had made about her room. She pocketed the tickets and grabbed the shopping bags, grinning widely. "If it wasn't before, _now _this is the best birthday I've ever had."

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Reviews, anyone? They're greatly appreciated!


	4. The Phantom of the

Hello, you readers, all three of you. You're wonderful people, you are. Well, there might be more of you…if some of you anonymous readers would kindly leave a review  I'd have a better sense of just how many people think that this is 1) brilliant 2) so-so 3) makes them want to slam their head in a drawer.

I beseech thee- leave a review!

And anyway, hope you've enjoyed this little story- I know I have. Anyway, here's the conclusion. I'm rather fond of it myself :P

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Rose waited outside the theatre for what seemed like forever as people streamed past her in large groups, smiling and laughing and taking their time moving out of the way. She huffed in annoyance and crossed her arms, trying to find the Doctor's coat in the sea of people. Just as Rose began to get worried, she saw the Doctor step out of the doorway and begin to move away from the crowd, presumably looking for Rose herself. Without a second thought she plowed through the theatre-goers and caught the Doctor by the arm.

"Hello!" he said cheerily. "How did we get separated? I thought you were right behind me."

"I got lost! That's a huge theatre- I went down the wrong steps and ended up on the other side of the lobby. Anyway," she said, and let her voice trail off, hoping the Doctor would pick up his cue.

"Did you like it?"

"Yes!" she cried. "It was incredible! Didn't you think so?"

The Doctor smiled. "It was pretty good, yeah."

Rose was walking slightly turned into the Doctor. "That's an understatement! Did you see when the chandelier dropped? I didn't even know they could do that! I mean I knew they could, but I didn't know how they'd actually _do_ it. Scared the hell out of me, of course, but that was incredible. Did you cry? I cried."

The Doctor gave her a sideways glance. "I didn't cry."

"Not even a bit?"

He shook his head. "What I want to know," he said, "is how they dropped the thing itself. See, I'm thinking they use the same sort of system _Poppins_ does- did you know, in _Marry Poppins_, they have these fly systems that pull at once, one out and one up, so that at the very end, Mary flies out over the audience?"

"I didn't know that," Rose admitted.

"Yes, well, and they fly her up to the top of the house and she lands on a catwalk, all to come running back down for curtain call. Anyway, so I'm thinking their fly system is similar to the…" He paused. "What was I talking about again?"

"I can never be sure with you."

The Doctor shrugged and started walking again. "Anyway, Time Lords, we don't cry. Although you looked pretty upset."

"I'm brilliant now!"

"You sure?"

"Yes, fine! I'm over it. It was just a show. But honestly, I mean, that was amazing." She stopped for a moment to catch her breath. "Thank you," she concluded.

"Not a problem, Rose." He paused again. "Well, maybe just a little, as I had to walk about ten blocks to the TKS booth and seven back, but you know…yeah, not a problem."

"No, I mean, thank you for everything, for the show and the dinner, that was great, but I mean…you know…" Rose stopped walking and did some vague gestures with her hands. "Everything."

He blinked. "Everything? Oh, you mean…"

"Yeah, I mean, I still think I'm the luckiest person in the world that I get to do this. No doubt."

The Doctor couldn't hide his pride at that remark. He smiled and said, "Well, I don't doubt it either."

Rose laughed. "You're so full of it."

The Doctor smiled and took Rose's arm again. "So dinner was good?"

Rose nodded. "Yes, yes."

They resumed walking. "You like ice cream, don't you?" he said after a moment.

"Ice cream?" Rose repeated. The Doctor nodded and they trekked the four blocks over to the Mr. Frostee truck, parked crosswise from Radio City Music Hall. The pair sat on the ledge of a fountain that was turned off for the winter and ate, and even though the night was brisk, not a shiver was to be had by either of them.

"Nice night," the Doctor commented.

"Very," Rose agreed. "This was an amazing birthday. I don't even want to know how much money I spent."

The Doctor thought back to the short time he spent in Tiffany's and shuddered at the thought of how much money he could've spent there, but had opted not to, despite his unlimited credit. He then also thought about Emily, whom he had forgotten about until that moment. The pair fell into silence for a while as Rose finished her ice cream and sighed, resting her head on the Doctor's shoulder.

"You're quiet tonight," Rose commented.

The Doctor didn't say anything- he wasn't sure how to respond. Did he tell her he was contented, extremely happy just to be sitting by her on the ledge of a fountain in New York City, or…?

"I wasn't just making that up, earlier, you know," Rose said, and yawned.

"Worn out much?" he asked, happy for the subject change. "Plays can do that to you, especially musicals."

Rose smiled. "Yes, but listen: I wasn't just caught up in the moment, before, when I said I was the luckiest person in the world. I mean that. I said it once and I'll say it again; I really love travelling with you. And not just because of the New York's and the shows and things, I mean, I love… I don't know."

"I know, Rose," he said quietly. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have stayed this long."

"S'right," Rose said sleepily, and the Doctor fell silent again. He wanted to get up but didn't want to disturb Rose, so he just sat there comfortably, her head on his shoulder. He felt himself getting a little drowsy, as surprising as that was, when a crowd of tourists passed in front of him and recognized two of the girls as the ones that had entered Tiffany's earlier that day. And that meant…

"Doctor?" he heard a voice ask.

"Hi," the Doctor whispered, pleasantly surprised. He turned his head to see Emily standing a few feet away from him.

"Why are you whisper- oh!" Emily said loudly, and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Is that Rose?" she mouthed, and sat down on the ledge a few feet away from him, on the other side of Rose. He nodded and smiled. Emily made a face as if to say "oh my god, that's the cutest thing I've ever seen," and put her hand on her chest.

"She's adorable!" Emily said. "I knew I'd like her. What did she think of _Phantom_?"

"She loved it. Me too, actually, and that's saying something. I mean, did you hear the notes that lead girl hit? Astronomical!"

Rose shifted on his shoulder and he stopped moving for a moment.

"Thank you again for the tickets," he said finally, looking at Emily once more. "And for dinner."

"Any time! I'm glad she liked it. And in the big scheme of things, aren't you glad you didn't get her a bracelet after all?" Emily asked, and eyed the sleeping Rose.

The Doctor smiled and nodded. Emily sighed contentedly.

"Planning on saving the world any time soon, then, Doctor?"

He raised his eyebrows, thinking. "Maybe. Not soon, though. Well not 'in the next ten seconds' soon. And maybe not this world, I mean, there are loads of other planets, other galaxies, other…things."

Emily chuckled, thinking this over. "That's good, that's good," she replied, and presently saw that her group had moved away from her and was already half way down the block. She swore.

"See you around," she said, "if I'm lucky. " Emily grinned, and was off.

At that moment, Rose slid off the Doctor's shoulder and woke up with a start.

"Hello," she said quickly, blinking several times. "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing much," the Doctor replied slowly. "The sign changed." He pointed down the road to one of the signs in the window of a building, which was indeed advertising a different product than it had been a few minutes ago.

Rose studied the sign for a moment. She then stood up and stretched.

"I am tired, but…" She trailed off, indicating the lights of the city, especially Radio City Music Hall, which was lit like a Christmas tree. "It's sort of beautiful, isn't it?"

The Doctor stood up next to Rose and examined the building for a moment, then looked to his right and realised he could see all the way down the street to what might be the heart of Times Square- he wasn't sure. It was bright as day and a warm breeze had picked up. Atlantic air.

Deep in thought, Rose began to hum. The melody sounded familiar and finally, as Rose murmured the words, the Doctor recognised it.

"Past the point of no return," she said, more speaking than singing, "the final threshold. What warm unspoken secrets will we learn?" She hummed the orchestra's part, then stopped, still in rapt contemplation. "In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came. That voice which calls to me, and speaks my name. And so I dream again, for now I find…"

She stopped and turned to face the Doctor; her eyes had taken on a new look of tiredness. "Let's go home," she said, and the Doctor smiled at Rose's use of 'home.'

"I think that'd be appropriate," he said, and began walking to the corner. "Although, tomorrow…"

"What?"

"Well, you know what happened on March third of this year in Rochester, New York, don't you? The invasion?"

Rose's eyes got wide. "Yes?"

He shrugged. "Someone's got to stop it."

"That'd be us, will it?"

The Doctor looked at her slyly. "I think so."

Rose laughed and clutched the Doctor's arm once more.

"Like I said. I love it."

**dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdw**

Teh End!


End file.
